


In case you don’t live forever

by Ayame_D



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Angst, Black Rose, Cancer, Countdown, F/M, Flowers, JHaven Project 2020 (Disney/Rise of the Guardians), Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25639123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayame_D/pseuds/Ayame_D
Summary: Based on the soulmate AU: whenever your soulmate gets a wound or cut, flowers bloom out of the same spot on your body.When a black rose appears in Jack’s body, Elsa is diagnosed with cancer. The emotional challenge this brings won’t make it easy for the couple, and it may even defy their relationship, endangering everything they’ve built and leaving a trail of tears behind.
Relationships: Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Elsa (Disney)/Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14
Collections: Tales of Jelsa Haven





	In case you don’t live forever

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the Jelsa Haven Discord project. Edits, fanarts and one-shots are all under the hashtag #jhavenproject2020 in different platforms. 
> 
> We had to write one-shots, but my mind got out of control and I just couldn’t refrain myself, so enjoy!
> 
> Jelsa haven is a server free of toxicity. If you like Jelsa and want to join the server, I encourage you to private message me for the link.

_**10 months**_

On a normal night, Jack and Elsa would be laying on the sofa after a long working day, the news program on without any sound and the lights off, both too tired to notice the sun had already hidden. They would talk about their day, only interrupted by yawns and closing eyes and Elsa would eventually fall asleep in Jack’s arms while complaining about “not having enough time with you”. 

But the last weeks had been far from normal because of Jack’s job, and that night’s emergency visit to the hospital changed their routine forever.

The room’s white lights didn’t seem to hurt his eyes, nor did the clenching of his jaw either. A nurse approached him but Jack didn’t hear what she said, but nodded anyways without moving his gaze from the tiled floor. The nurse then turned around, so his automatic response may have been the correct one, he thought.

Unconsciously placing a hand under his ribs and feeling the smooth petals of a black rose, he rested his eyes on the sleeping girl next to him. Entwining his fingers with hers, he examined for the fifth time how skinny her arm was, how bony her cheeks had gotten and how her always pale but rosy face now rivalled with the hospital walls. 

Jack’s mind started twisting and travelling in time again, playing in repeat those previous night events. 

_He had been daydreaming about the perfect evening while preparing dinner —a homemade chocolate cake, for the occasion— in the first day after weeks full of stressful meetings and nonstop work. He had bent, feeling a sharp pain right under his ribs. Grasping the table and lifting his t-shirt his eyes had lingered over a little rose._

_He had seen red roses before, meaning an injury; he had seen lilies, meaning sadness; but this one was dark, the kitchen light consumed the moment they reached the twisted petals. “A black rose sprout”, the euphemism for cancer._

_The pain didn’t matter anymore._

_He had taken a deep, strained breath and his eyes had snapped wide open at the sound of the door opening._

_A question full of concern was left unspoken, a loud thud was heard instead._

_And then?_

_Then, a silence fed by seer horror, by ragged breaths, by skipped heartbeats and running steps and drowned screams; a silence fed by the view of a platinum blonde on the floor; a silence fed by “wake up”s and shaky hands trying to lift a body that, blame it on the adrenaline or something else, didn’t feel as heavy as it should be; a silence filled with the sound of the engine, hospital gurneys and black roses and medical questions._

_And finally, when those cerulean blue eyes had met his after hours filled with that empty silence, the beeps, the questions, the white lights and the smell of disinfectant became real. She was there, she was awake._

_But she wasn’t ok, and it really showed._

It showed in her. She had always been skinny, but now he could almost see her bones through her pale skin. Holding her hand was so easy; what would have been dead weight because of her sleep, now was air; even her grip wasn’t stronger than a feather touch. Where he should have seen an ice angel, he saw fragile glass. 

He was so stupid. So, so stupid. It was obvious, it was in front of him, it had always been. He should have known, he should have noticed. Why the fuck didn’t he notice?

Burying his face in his hands, he tried to suppress the frustrated howl challenging to escape his throat. 

His gaze laid subconsciously on the room’s clock. Seven hours since the CT scan was performed; the morning sun warmed the room. He had yearned for a good night sleep for weeks, but now he just couldn’t close his eyes, his thoughts clouding his mind. He thanked that, despite being Wednesday, he didn’t have to...

_...work._

He shot out of the armchair and began to walk in circles.

_His job._

Of course, the last weeks he had been engrossed in that marketing campaign with little to no time to rest. He hadn’t had the time to listen to the signs. The untouched meals, the constant “I don’t feel well today” which he didn’t give enough attention to, seeing her getting dressed early in the morning and noticing her ribs or hugging her at night, noticing her emaciation. All those things, all those important things he hadn’t given enough attention because of his work. 

He could punch a wall- no, himself, in that moment, but he ran his hands through his hair instead. Action that turned into grabbing himself, pulling, but he stopped, restraining all that force, trying not to cry, whether it was one meaning or the other. He let go a silent scream and then dropped to the ground, he hugged his knees and rested his head on the hospital gurney's footboard. If he felt the painful impact with the steel, he didn’t show it. 

Sleep and tiredness made him a favour, kicking in after hours of constant fight and stress, and claimed him before self hatred could drive him to tears.

* * *

Elsa opened her eyes to find a doctor and Jack discussing something rather important. The world was spinning and turned her futile efforts to change position into an intense hangover that threatened to send her to the bathroom; but she hadn’t drank the previous night. It was actually more serious than exceeding her drinking limits, and a long term issue rather than a party night. 

Her sudden motion drew the doctor’s and Jack’s attention. 

“Snowflake.” 

She was tired and her sight blurry, but the poorly masked broken tone in which that single word was spoken made her heart turn upside down. She was sure she had lost a heartbeat, maybe two. 

In a few seconds, she remembered everything. And she knew without much contemplation that the previous weeks, the fatigue, the vomiting, fainting and the black flower she then witnessed in Jack only had been the fall of their lives; that moment was the impact. 

Jack held her left hand and sat on the bed’s side. Her arm was numb and swelled a little, and only then she noticed the IV tubes connected to her, worsening her headache when she tried to focus not the thin lines.

“You lost consciousness because of dehydration and disnutrition. “He explained. “They had to, uh…” 

“Stabilise me.” 

“Exactly.” 

Elsa blinked a few times and then opened and closed her hand. She was tired, her eyes closing, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday. She felt healthier, if it even made sense given her current situation. Then, looking at Jack, she made the question that had started to from in the back of her mind the moment she woke up.

“What‘s wrong?” 

There was no eye contact. When she moved, he stopped holding her hand as if it was burning and ran his through his face, muttering something.

“Jack, what’s wrong? I know this is serious,” of course it was serious, even a blind person would have seen it, “or else you would just lecture me about my eating habits.” And she knew. She knew it well, because that wasn't a matter of diet. She knew it wasn’t normal. Poor appetite for weeks isn’t normal, puking after every meal isn’t normal, feeling tired after a short walk to the point you can’t move isn’t normal. But she was known for her stubbornness and independence, which mixed with the wrong situation always led to chaos. She never learned.

The doctor who had been standing in the middle of the room approached them. Elsa looked at him, while Jack kept his gaze down.

“Hello, I am doctor Tadashi and I am here to talk about the CT scan results.”

“So soon? I was told it would take a few days to get them.”

In her confusion, Elsa tried to make eye contact with her boyfriend again but instead of a reassuring smile or a gentle glance she was welcomed with a pair of cobalt eyes fogged by worry. She, Elsa Winters, always tried to appear calm and regal, but that single sight mixed with her own concern and state broke her façade. Everything was too much.

“We have noticed an abnormal mass in the abdomen.” Tadashi said, going reading some papers he was holding. “Basing our observations on the scan results and on your soulmate’s _rose,_ I will be honest; there is a high chance this is cancer. I will need to ask some questions and take a few blood tests before coming to conclusions, tho.”

_Too much._

Her mind went blank, her head submerged underwater; the doctor’s words ricocheted against her, and the feeling of the bed under her was distant. Jack may have entwined his fingers with hers, or may had not and she may or may not have grasped onto him as if he could drag her out of that nightmare. 

The knot in her throat worsened her nausea and she just couldn’t hold herself anymore. Aided by her boyfriend and doctor Tadashi, Elsa threw up, something she could call a habit at that point. No grace, no beauty, just an ugly and bitter mess due to her empty stomach. She was powerless, she was weak, and she was on the edge of a breakdown. A pair of strong arms around her and a few words she didn’t comprehend were muttered in her ear. 

Jack kept holding her and kissing her head until exhaustion and sleep claimed her again. 


End file.
